The History Lesson
by markmark261
Summary: Buffy meets Fray sometime in the future.
1. 2001 AD

Disclaimer: All the characters herein were created by Joss Whedon or other people at Mutant Enemy. However, it also contains references to a pop group (created by their parents), a Marvel character (created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby), and a pair of British puppets (I've no idea who created them). The whole story's initial premise came from a line by Harvey Kurtzman. The events with Fray take place immediately after the Fray story in the Tales Of The Slayers graphic novel  
  
THE HISTORY LESSON  
  
Chapter One - 2001 AD  
  
Xander was back in his parents' basement again. He didn't relish being there, but Willow had told him it was either that or his apartment, and he couldn't risk Anya walking in on them and discovering what they were up to.  
  
Willow, sat there facing him. She took some vials from her bag.  
  
"Do we both really have to be naked for this?" asked Xander.  
  
Willow smiled. "Don't say a word, you could break the spell."  
  
She then proceeded to cast the contents of the vials onto the septagram that she'd chalked on the floor between them. As the contents of the vials mixed together and bright orange smoke filled the air, she opened her mouth to start the incantation, and then, against her will, burst into song. That had been happening a lot that day. 


	2. Time Twisters

Chapter Two - Time Twisters  
  
Xander and Willow stood up surrounded by bright orange smoke. They couldn't see anything, let alone each other.  
  
"Willow, are you there?" shouted Xander.  
  
"I'm sorry, Xander." Willow replied, "It all went a bit Bedknobby and Broomsticky back there. I'm not sure if the spell's worked."  
  
The smoke cleared to reveal a crowded bar.  
  
"Then again, my musical prowess seems to have saved the day."   
  
It was then that Xander remember he was naked, and, blushing, moved his hands to protect his modesty.  
  
"Relax, Xander. No-one here can see or hear us. We're also utterly intangible. For the next hour, we can just walk around wherever we want and watch what happens." Willow then proceeded to wander freely around the bar having a look around. Xander just stood still, waving one of his hands in front of, and through, the face of one of the clientele, making infinitely sure that what Willow said was actually true.   
  
The denizens of the bar were wearing futuristic fashions like something out of a comic book. On stage a tribute band, called They Might Be They Might Be Giants were performing a song called "Four Of Two".  
  
"So where's Anya?" asked Xander. "And for that matter where am I?"  
"I don't know." admitted Willow forlornly.  
  
It was at that moment that a familiar figure entered the bar. They recognized him even with his braided hair. He pushed his way through the crowd, and ordered a drink from the demon behind the bar.  
  
"A Bloody Mary, please. Keep the change." said Spike.  
  
"That's a lot of change, Spike." observed the demon.  
  
"Well that's because I need some information. I hear there's a new slayer in town. What have you heard?"  
  
"She's young, dark-haired, got an attitude, dresses in red, used to be in trouble with the law a lot."  
  
"How original. Has she got a name?"  
  
"They call her F-"  
  
The demon's attention had suddenly shifted to someone behind Spike. By the time Spike had turned around to see who it was, he found himself lying on the floor with a hand round his throat. Looking up, he saw the new slayer. Subtlety was never a slayer's strong point, he thought.  
  
"Hey, Miss F, how's things?" Spike asked.  
  
"I hear that you've been going round all the bars asking about me. I thought that I better find you before you found me." said the Slayer.  
  
"So, you've found me, now what?"  
  
"Well, I'm tempted to just kill you. Any reason not to?"  
  
"I'm here to protect you, believe it or not. Someone's out to get you, worse than any monsters or demons you've encountered so far."  
  
"That's what Gunther told me you'd say. You're lucky I've got some important business to do, otherwise you'd be history."  
  
At that point the slayer unleashed numerous blows at Spike's body, flung him across the room, and made her exit.  
  
Willow and Xander walked up to Spike's slouched body.  
  
"Well there's Spike. Hi Spike." tootled Willow.  
  
"Hello there" Spike responded, turning to face them, and then went pale (moreso than usual), as if he'd seen two ghosts.  
  
"Didn't expect to bump into you two today. Nice outfits." he smiled, quickly regaining his composure.  
  
"So, nobody can see us EXCEPT vampires." exclaimed Xander, moving his hands once more.  
  
"So what brings you here, kids?" Spike asked.  
  
"We're not us. We're the past us." explained Willow, "We've cast a spell to find out if Xander and Anya are happy in the future. Xander wanted to be sure that marriage to Anya was the right thing"  
  
"What exactly does this spell do?" enquired Spike raising a quizzical eyebrow.  
  
"It sent us into the future when Xander is with the person he had strong feelings for at the location of the spell, i.e. Anya."  
  
"We did the spell in my parents' basement, so Anya wouldn't walk in us." added Xander, just so that he'd have something to say, rather than for any informational purpose.  
  
"Oh, I get it." laughed Spike, realization dawning. "I shared that basement with you for a while and you certainly had strong feelings for me. You hated me, or so I like to think. And here you are meeting me in the future. I love spells, they're always worded to do nothing like what you really want to do. You should have read the small print, Willow."  
  
"That may just be a coincidence." blustered Willow. "What makes you so sure that Anya and Xander aren't about to turn up."  
  
Spike smiled, and beckoned them towards the door.  
  
"Come on, Pinky and Perky, let me show you something."  
  
As he pushed the bar of the Brew Drop Inn open, Willow and Xander gasped. They could see the massive city sprawling around them, and cars flying hither and yon through the night sky.  
  
"Welcome to the future!" shouted Spike. 


	3. Future Shocks

Chapter Three - Future Shocks

The mission from Gunther had led to Melaka Fray finding The Watcher's Diary. As she read the tales of the previous slayers she had a thought.

She was not alone.

She heard a sound behind her and quickly turned around. A ginger cat was scurrying across the room.

"Hey, little fella, what's happening." Fray said, picking up the cat and stroking its fur. The cat stretched and purred and looked behind Fray.

"Did you get to the bit about me yet?" asked the figure that had silently appeared behind her. "The name's Buffy Summers."

An instant later, Spike and his invisible-to-all-but-vampire companions, entered with a lot more noise, as he kicked a door down.

Buffy had her back to Spike, but it didn't matter. She could take him. She could take anyone.

"There's no point trying to stop me, Spike. It's never worked before."

"Buffy?" exclaimed Willow, in a bewildered and confused little girl voice.

"Willow? What are you doing here?" Her voice was, for a second, tinged with sadness. She turned around and saw Spike, Willow and Xander. "And Xander, too. At least you're pleased to see me."

"Except for vampires AND slayers." hissed Xander to Willow, his hands dropping once again.

"What's going on?" asked Fray.

Buffy smiled. "You're the first person I kill, Melaka Fray. Spike (the guy behind me with the bleached braids) is the second, and the other two, the naked ones you can't see or hear (you're not missing much believe me), well they're just ghosts from the past."

"But I thought you were a slayer like me." said a confused Fray.

"I'm no ordinary slayer." Buffy's brow furrowed, and furrowed, and furrowed some more, and her smile became more fangy. "I'm a furshlugginer vampire slayer."

"Buffy The Vampire Slayer, that's kind of catchy." observed Xander.

Willow frowned. Now was not the time for levity.

"It's all one big trap, Melaka. I arranged with Gunther to get you here. Who do you think wrote The Watcher's Diary that you were just reading?"

"I wonder if I did it." whispered Willow to Xander. "That would be a cool twist - if I ended up documenting all Buffy's adventures."

"It would tie in. You've spent your life going through the Ws, werewolves, Wiccan witchcraft, women..." whispered back Xander.

"Well we all know what kind of W you are." retorted Willow, her voice rising. "You, you, you ... you Mister Wisecracker, you."

"That wasn't the one that leapt to my mind." Spike admitted.

"I can hear you back there." shouted Buffy. "I'm a villain now and I'm explaining everything to Melaka before I render her lifeless. Would you please have some respect for tradition."

"Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, all those stories couldn't have been written by a Watcher, how could they have possibly known the details."

"I get it. It's written by THE Watcher, he sees everything. Who'd have thought that that bald guy on the moon really existed?" interjected Xander, and then wished he hadn't.

"I wrote it, you numbskull." shouted Buffy exasperatedly, "A slayer subconsciously inherits the memories of all the previous slayers. It's fact. I wrote The Watcher's Diary, it's my dream journal. And why is it called The Watcher's Diary? Because I watch each new slayer come and I watch every new slayer go. It's your turn to go, Melaka. Now, before I kill you I'd appreciate it if you put down Willow." Buffy gestured towards the cat Fray was holding.

"Pussy Willow, do you get it?" Spike said to Willow explaining the cat's name. Willow nodded whilst placing her hand over Xander's mouth.

Fray dropped the cat and the fight started.

"I don't suppose that you can do any magic here in the future, Willow?" asked Spike. Willow shook her head apologetically, things didn't work that way.

"A few moments ago you were glad that there were other slayers, and now I bet you wish that I'd never turned up." said Buffy, blocking Fray's punch whilst delivering a substantial kick to Fray's head. "I once had a friend called Cordelia who wished that." Another kick landed on Fray. "She's dead now." Followed by a punch. "You'll be meeting her soon."

"Give my regards to Cord, Fray." Buffy knocked Fray across the room "Remember me to Wes The Square."

Spike attempted to join in but just got flung aside like a rag doll.

A few wisps of bright orange smoke appeared at Willow and Xander's feet".

"Not long to go, the spell's wearing off." warned Willow.

"Spike, I've got to know before I go." shouted Xander.

"Oh, my hair?" smiled Spike, "Everyone asks about that. The future's so shite I've got to wear braids."

"No, not that. How does the marriage go?"

Spike smirked mischievously. "Oh, you and Willow. You live happily ever after, don't worry."

At that point the bright orange smoke consumed Willow and Xander.

Spike had to get back to helping Fray.

Only one of the slayers would survive that night.

* * *

As the bright orange smoke slowly wafted away, leaving them back in the basement, Willow and Xander sang a duet. Xander was grateful when he realized that it was a reprise of a song he'd sung earlier that day with Anya. If it had been something more commercially orientated than Anya would never have forgiven him.

"It's sad."

"It's sadder."

"Buffy's a bigger badder."

"Do you really think Fray had a chance of grabbing success."

"She looked a loser."

"And Buffy is a bruiser."

"Does sexy MF really stand a chance with BS."

"I'd say it wasn't easy, She'll try, but I've a feeling she'll die."  
"Are we looking at the gloomy side?"

"Will little Spikey turn the tide?"

"He'll probably get the boot in, though that hairstyle doesn't suit him."

"Maybe he'll surprise her, and prevent Fray's demise, yeah."

"Is Fray winning?"

"Is she losing?"

"This is all really confusing."

"I wish that was some way our memories to quell."

"So thank God I know a spell. I swear that I know a spell."

"Seal up my lips."

"I need a plant."

"Get me that plant. Cast me that spell."

"We'll never tell."

THE END

Grr! Arrgh!


End file.
